2013 Oscar Nominations: Best Original Screenplay Nomination Predictions!

1. Spike Jonze, Her
Whoa, I literally exploded when Her won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes. I was so happy, really. And now there is just a slight chance that Spike Jonze's masterpiece will win the Oscar it deserves.

2. Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell, American Hustle
It's not really a screenplay when the movie is loosely improvised. It's hilarious, it's fun, breezy. But it's all fluff, really.

3. Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Written ten years ago by a debut writer, it's a total Hollywood story. Doesn't hurt if the movie itself if good too, ya know.

4. Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
It's his 48th feature, but Woody Allen really knows how to write a modern rendition, with this one being A Streetcar Named Desire. Take notes Baz Luhrmann.

5. Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Word on the street is that voters hate the scene when Llewyn abandons the cat in the snow. Are you kidding me? Just because Llewyn abandons a cat, voters decide to not vote for what might as well be one of the best screenplays of the Coen brothers repertoire, and one of the best of the year? They must be joking really. I can't believe something so smoothly somber yet off-kilter and hilarious could go unrecognized by the WGA. The script is a masterpiece on it's own. But I think it can squeak in tomorrow. The Academy loves the Coens, and A Serious Man, probably their least accessible film, managed
a nomination in this category in 2009.

Keep your eyes peeled for Nicole Holofecener's Enough Said  and Dallas Buyers Club.

2013 Oscar Nominations: Best Director Nomination Predictions!

I'm a hunter shooting with a crappy gun in the dark when it comes to this category. Really, this category messed with everyone last year, especially since Bigelow and Affleck weren't nominated last year.

1. David O. Russell, American Hustle
The leading best picture contender, and it's pretty much a lock for a nom. Actually the whole top three is.

2. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Yo. Seriously. Visual movies are the ones that fit the directing category best, and Gravity is no exception. Actually, I don't know how to rank
the top three, all that matters that they are locks.

3. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
One of the best directed films of the year, crafted by a true artist. Totally worthy of the director recognition.

4. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
He's Scorsese. Not always a winner, but his seventy-one year old energy is
too infectious to ignore in such a stylistic picture.

5. Spike Jonze, Her
Beautifully crafted American masterpiece. Has such a huge fanbase, and the film is amazing. And even if her isn't recognized tomorrow, he is a lock for the screenplay category.

Keep your eyes peeled for Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), and the Coens (Inside Llewyn Davis).

Her- Movie Review by Sean Wu

Finally, I can shut the book on 2013. And there is no better way to cap out the year with Her, the best film of 2013. As a whole, this bizarrely beautiful Spike Jonze love story is so perfect because of three scenes:

First, after Joaquin Phoenix's mopey Theodore Twombly meets his OS, he brings her to work to help him proofread his letters he's ghostwriting. His system Samantha reads them out loud at first, and Theodore tells her she doesn't have to. She responds with an unenthusiastic and somewhat disappointed okay. An awkward silence falls occurs, and Theodore tells her that she can. She responds with an enthusiastic and jovial "Okay!"

The scene, on paper, sounds good. But on the screen, it's beautiful. Scarlett Johansson performs so brilliantly with just her voice alone, my heart honestly melted at the moment she said the second "Okay!". Maybe because the OS voice is so human and so familiar that I was able to relate to Samantha on a human level.

2013 Rome Film Festival winners!

The 9th Rome Film Festival concluded, and this year marks a very unusual and possibly deserving recognition. The winner for Best Actress at this year's fest is the glamorous Scarlett Johansson, whose face is never seen in the film Her. Instead, she is the voice of a computer operating system. The road for Oscar with Johansson began at NYFF, and it looks like she can only go up from here.

In other news, Out of the Furnace won a prize, and so did Dallas Buyers Club. I predict in a couple years that the Rome Film Festival will be proclaimed as one of the big fests. Full list of winners below.

Golden Marc’Aurelio Award for Best Film: Tir by Alberto Fasulo
Best Director Award: Kiyoshi Kurosawa for Sebunsu kodo (Seventh Code)
Special Jury Prize: Quod Erat Demonstrandum by Andrei Gruzsniczk
Best Actor Award: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress Award: Scarlett Johansson for Her
Award for Emerging Actor or Actress: the entire cast of Gass (Acrid)
Award for Best Technical Contribution: Koichi Takahashi for Sebunsu kodo(Seventh Code)
Award for Best Screenplay: Tayfun Pirselimoğlu for Ben o değilim (I Am Not Him)
Special Mention: Cui Jian for Lanse gutou (Blue Sky Bones)

Spike Jonze's latest: Her (2013)

I'm way too late for this, but it's better late than never: The spectacularly relevant trailer for Spike Jonze's latest: Her, with a Joaquin Phoenix, and a particularly attractive female supporting cast.

Trailer below: